Tag Archive Browsing Tag:Thelma Toole

It’s been long overdue but Chris now has representation with the top-notch A Gallery for Fine Photography. Not only has Chris had access to the “who’s who” of the NOLA arts scene (Clementine Hunter, Tennessee Williams, Walker Percy, Thelma Toole, Professor Longhair) but Chris has shown me images not in the gallery (James Booker, Gatemouth, Charles…

As a regular viewer of Tom Synder’s late night interview show ostensibly dealing with less fluffy primetime subject matter (e. g. Johnny Rotten, Lennon, Sterling Hayden, Manson), I recall seeing Thelma being interviewed: at the time it made little impression upon me. Since my interest in “Ken” Toole has been ignited I’ve failed to find a…

In Robert Gottlieb’s recently published memoir Avid Reader he briefly talks about the fraught relationship he had with Ken Toole. So in barely two pages devoted to Toole and in light of the critical and commercial status that Dunces has achieved worldwide, Gottlieb still dismisses Toole as sophomoric! Even with the benefit of the interim 50…

Thelma being . . . Thelma . . . what with the ubiquitous piano. (Also I’ve just noted that the excellent documentary on Toole, a collaboration between Toole biographer Corey MacLauchlin and film-maker Joe Sanford, has been updated — and there is now a transcript which I’d have found handy when writing my forthcoming review of…

Once again I have Kafka on my mind. I’ve been amending a review of Toole’s biography Butterfly in the Typewriter: The Tragic Life of John Kennedy Toole and the Remarkable Story of A Confederacy of Dunces by the very excellent Cory MacLauchlin to appear in the Journal of Mind and Behavior. Here is a snippet: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The…

I was curious to find out whether or not “Bunt” Percy was still alive since it was she that nudged her husband Walker into reading Confederacy. As Cory MacLauchlin tells it: Walker said to Bunt, “You read it. Tell me what to do with it.” A few days later, Walker asked Bunt what she thought…